Donald Macleod - "There Is a Point in Living" (November 13, 1983)

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	(calming organ music)	0:03
	(mellow organ music)	3:45
	(footsteps tapping)	6:03
	(relaxing orchestral music)	6:06
	(enchanting organ music)	9:54
	(tonal singing)	11:53
	(orchestral music)
	(tonal singing)	13:14
	(mellow organ music)
-	Now it shall come to pass afterward	16:49
	that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.	16:52
	Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,	16:56
	your old people shall dream dreams	17:00
	and your young shall see visions.	17:03
	Now in the spirit of love and forgiveness,	17:07
	let us confess our sins before almighty God	17:11
	and in the presence of one another.	17:15
	Let us pray.	17:17
	Most merciful God, we have done little	17:28
	to forward your kingdom in this world,	17:32
	to foster the family of your humanity,	17:35
	and to establish love as the law of life.	17:38
	We have allowed self to bling us,	17:42
	pains to embitter us.	17:45
	We have forgotten that whatever is done	17:47
	to one of the least of your children is done unto you.	17:49
	Pardon our sins, forgive our neglect.	17:54
	Give us a pure heart intent on pleasing you.	17:58
	Holp us in all our seeking, to seek first	18:01
	your kingdom and your righteousness.	18:05
	And make us to come as came your son, Jesus Christ,	18:08
	not to be ministered unto, but to minister.	18:13
	This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	18:17
	Amen.	18:21
-	The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance	18:41
	that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.	18:45
	In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.	18:50
	Let us then give thanks for God is good	18:55
	and God's love is everlasting.	18:59
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	19:02
	Thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us.	19:06
	Thanks be to God whose grace leads us	19:10
	into the future.	19:14
	We welcome you this fall morning, the 25th Sunday	19:17
	after Pentecost, here to worship with us	19:21
	in Duke University Chapel.	19:24
	We are glad that you have come	19:26
	and our prayer for you is that your spirit	19:29
	will be nourished by God's spirit	19:32
	as we gather for worship this day.	19:34
	You will notice in the bulletin, the announcement	19:40
	about tickets for Messiah.	19:43
	Our performances this year are scheduled	19:46
	for the first weekend in December.	19:49
	And we must share with you that after	19:52
	the first week of tickets being available,	19:54
	all tickets are now sold out for all performances.	19:57
	I also want to call to your attention	20:04
	this morning, the insert in your bulletin	20:07
	which calls to all of our attention,	20:10
	the burgeoning crisis of famine in Ethiopia.	20:13
	The Duke campus ministry advisory council	20:19
	has designated today, to be a special offering Sunday.	20:22
	All of the offering today will be channeled	20:28
	through the Oxfam Agency to go to direct relief	20:31
	of Ethiopian famine.	20:36
	Please give generously.	20:38
	The Duke University Corral will be presenting	20:41
	its 1983 fall concert here this evening	20:44
	at five o'clock in the chapel.	20:49
	You are invited to attend.	20:52
	It is being sponsored by Arts and Duke Chapel	20:53
	and the Department of Music.	20:57
	We are privileged to have as our guest preacher	21:01
	this morning and also as a James T. Cleland	21:05
	visiting preacher, the Reverend Dr. Donald McCloud.	21:09
	He is a distinguished clergyman coming to us	21:14
	from Princeton University and Princeton Seminary.	21:18
	He has taught and lectured and preached now	21:22
	in Princeton for 36 years.	21:26
	He has trained literally thousands of preachers.	21:29
	And the church at large is indebted for his gifts	21:33
	of teaching, preaching and ministry over the years.	21:37
	It is especially appropriate, I think, that he be	21:42
	a James T. Cleland preacher.	21:45
	As many of you know, Dr. Cleland was James B. Duke	21:48
	Professor of Preaching and also Dean of Duke Chapel	21:52
	for many, many years prior to his death.	21:57
	We are continually indebted to his ministry	22:00
	among us and this morning we look forward	22:03
	to the sermon that Dr. McCloud will share.	22:06
	The sermon title is, There is a Point in Living.	22:10
-	Let us pray.	22:24
	Oh Lord our God.	22:27
	Open our eyes that we may behold	22:29
	wondrous things out of your word.	22:32
	And let the words of my mouth	22:35
	and the meditation of our hearts	22:37
	be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord.	22:39
	And our strength and our redeemer.	22:42
	Amen.	22:45
	(clears throat)	22:47
	The Old Testament lesson is from Malachi,	22:49
	chapter three, verses 13 through chapter four	22:52
	verses 2A and verses five and six.	22:56
	"Your words have been stout against me," says the Lord.	23:03
	Yet you say, "how have we spoken against thee?"	23:07
	You have said it is vain to serve God.	23:11
	What is the good of keeping his charge	23:15
	or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts.	23:17
	Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed.	23:21
	Evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God	23:24
	to the test, they escape.	23:27
	Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.	23:30
	The Lord heeded and heard them.	23:34
	And a book of remembrance was written before him	23:36
	of those who feared the Lord and thought on his name.	23:39
	They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts.	23:44
	My special possession on the day when I act	23:46
	and I will spare them as a man spares his son	23:50
	who serves him.	23:53
	Then once more you shall distinguish	23:55
	between the righteous and the wicked.	23:57
	Between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.	24:00
	For behold, the day comes burning like an oven	24:05
	when all the arrogant and all evildoers	24:09
	will be stubble.	24:11
	"The day that comes shall burn them up,"	24:12
	says the Lord of hosts.	24:15
	So that it will leave them neither root	24:17
	nor branch, but for you who fear my name,	24:19
	the Son of Righteousness shall rise	24:24
	with healing in its wings.	24:27
	Behold, I will send you Elijah, the Prophet,	24:30
	before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.	24:33
	And he will turn the hearts of fathers	24:36
	to their children and the hearts of children	24:39
	to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land	24:41
	with a curse.	24:46
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	24:48
	The Epistle lesson is from 2nd Thessalonians,	24:53
	Chapter three verses 6-13.	24:56
	Now we command you, Brethren in the name	25:03
	of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you keep away	25:05
	from any brother who is living in idleness	25:09
	and not in accord with the tradition	25:12
	that you received from us, for you yourselves know	25:14
	how you ought to imitate us.	25:18
	We were not idle when we were with you.	25:20
	We did not eat anyone's bread without paying,	25:23
	but with toil and labor, we worked night and day	25:26
	that we might not burden any of you.	25:30
	It was not because we have not that right.	25:33
	But to give you in our conduct an example to imitate.	25:36
	For even when we were with you, we gave you	25:40
	this command.	25:43
	If anyone will not work, let him not eat.	25:44
	For we hear that some of you	25:49
	are living in idleness.	25:50
	Mere busy bodies, not doing any work.	25:52
	Now such persons we command and exhort	25:55
	in the name, Jesus Christ to do their work	25:58
	in quietness and to earn their own living.	26:01
	Brethren, do not be weary in well doing.	26:05
	Here ends the reading from the Epistle lesson.	26:10
	(tonal singing)	26:20
	(mellow organ music)
	(heavy organ music)	28:24
	(tonal singing)	28:42
	(heavy organ music)	30:07
	(tonal singing)	30:28
-	Will the congregation please stand	31:32
	for the reading of the gospel lesson.	31:34
	The gospel lesson is from Matthew.	31:42
	Chapter seven, verses 13-27.	31:45
	Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide	31:50
	and the way is easy that leads to destruction.	31:54
	And those who enter by it are many.	31:58
	For the gate is narrow and the way is hard	32:01
	that leads to life.	32:04
	And those who find it are few.	32:05
	Beware of false prophets who come to you	32:09
	in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.	32:12
	You will know them by their fruits.	32:16
	Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles?	32:19
	So every sound tree bears good fruit.	32:24
	But the bad tree bears evil fruit.	32:27
	A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit nor can	32:30
	a bad tree bear good fruit.	32:33
	Every tree that does not bear good fruit	32:36
	is cut down and thrown into the fire.	32:38
	Thus you will know them by their fruits.	32:42
	Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,"	32:45
	shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does	32:49
	the will of my Father, who is in heaven,	32:52
	on that day, many will say to me,	32:55
	"Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name	32:58
	"cast out demons in your name and do mighty works	33:01
	"in your name?"	33:04
	And then will I declare to therm, "I never knew you.	33:06
	"Depart from me, you evildoers."	33:11
	Everyone then who hears these words of mine	33:15
	and does them will be like a wise man	33:18
	who built his house upon the rock.	33:20
	And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds	33:23
	blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall	33:26
	because it had been founded on the rock.	33:30
	And everyone who hears these words of mine	33:34
	and does not do them will be like a foolish man	33:36
	who built his house upon the sand.	33:40
	And the rains fell, and the floods came,	33:43
	and the winds blew and beat against that house	33:46
	and it fell.	33:49
	And great was the fall of it.	33:50
	Here ends the reading from the gospel less.	33:54
	Amen.	33:58
	(tonal singing)	33:59
	(mellow organ music)
	(clears throat)	35:09
-	I cannot begin this morning without a word	35:16
	of appreciation of being included in this series	35:21
	of services in honor of the former Dean	35:26
	of this Chapel, Dr. Cleland.	35:31
	A man whose pulpit ability I admired	35:36
	and a person whose memory,	35:43
	all of us cherish.	35:46
	I want also to thank your Dean	35:51
	fro her kinds words of welcome.	35:56
	There is amazing grace and the Methodist concept	36:02
	of grace and she has an abundance of both.	36:06
	I was reminded of an occasion some years ago,	36:14
	when Dr. George McCloud who was then moderator	36:19
	of the Church of Scotland, was addressing	36:23
	an assembly in the city of Toronto in Canada.	36:27
	And after a very generous introduction,	36:33
	Dr. McCloud, who was no relative of mine,	36:37
	arose and said, "after that introduction,	36:41
	"I cannot wait to hear myself speak."	36:48
	(attendees laughing)	36:52
	Our subject this morning is,	36:57
	There is a Point in Living.	36:59
	There are two texts.	37:05
	The prophesy of Isaiah, the 49th chapter	37:07
	and the fourth verse.	37:10
	I thought I had been laboring in vain,	37:12
	spending my strength for nothing.	37:16
	And 1st Corinthians the 15th chapter	37:21
	and the 58th verse.	37:23
	Your work is not in vain,	37:26
	in the Lord.	37:30
	In one of these poems, our American poet,	37:35
	John Greenleaf Whittier wrote these lines.	37:39
	"Of all sad words of tongue or pen,	37:45
	the saddest are these:	37:52
	It might have been."	37:55
	Now today, if any of you were to ask me	37:59
	to rewrite Whittier's lines,	38:03
	in order to reflect the mood	38:07
	of many of our people,	38:10
	they might go this way.	38:13
	Of all sad words that are on the loose,	38:17
	the saddest of these are:	38:22
	"what's the use?"	38:25
	And we encounter this forlorn frame of mind	38:28
	in almost every area of our common existence today.	38:33
	Last year, after the primary elections	38:40
	in one of our cities, one of the city leaders,	38:43
	looking back upon all the dishonesty	38:47
	and chicanery, and double dealing	38:52
	that went on,	38:56
	called the political process,	38:59
	an exercise in futility.	39:02
	Several years ago, a Presbyterian Minister	39:08
	in the city of Chicago sent out thousands	39:10
	of questionnaires to people in every walk of life.	39:14
	And he received over 4,000 replies,	39:18
	all of which he carefully indexed and tabulated.	39:22
	Now in each questionnaire, only one point was raised.	39:27
	What is the outstanding question you face today	39:33
	in all your thinking and living?	39:38
	22% responded that their problem lay with their families.	39:42
	But 48% indicated that	39:49
	their major problem was personal living.	39:52
	And the seeming loneliness, general failure,	39:57
	and futility of it all.	40:01
	On the bulletin board of one of our Ivy League universities	40:07
	last Spring, this item appeared.	40:12
	"WANTED: a young couple to care	40:15
	for an elderly millionaire who has	40:19
	been taking tranquilizers for 20 years."	40:22
	This couple is needed desperately	40:26
	to give him meaning to life.	40:29
	For he has nothing to live for.	40:33
	And further, an editorial in one of our campus newspapers	40:39
	reflecting upon student opinion made this remark:	40:43
	"Our generation has known only death	40:49
	from the time we were born.	40:52
	We have no reason to believe that we shall	40:55
	even be alive 20 years from now,	40:59
	much less hope for a better future.	41:04
	And we can't count on the adults	41:09
	around us to inspire us with a new vision	41:12
	of a world transformed."	41:16
	Now, men and women, these are merely echoes	41:20
	of the same spirit and idea of our text,	41:24
	which is before us today.	41:28
	A text which is a cry of discouragement	41:31
	from one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel.	41:34
	For more than half a century,	41:40
	the people of Israel had been exiles in Pagan Babylon.	41:42
	But God had not abandoned them.	41:48
	For, a new chapter was about to emerge	41:51
	in their history.	41:54
	For, from the North came Cyrus,	41:57
	the Persian warrior,	42:01
	whose pressures upon the Babylonian Empire	42:04
	eroded its strongholds and set the captives free.	42:07
	What a tremendous hour this was	42:14
	in the life of Isaiah.	42:17
	Now his hoped were about to be fulfilled.	42:19
	Now his prophecies were about to be vindicated.	42:23
	God had intervened	42:28
	and had set the captives free	42:31
	to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their nation,	42:35
	and their temple as a free nation.	42:39
	Well, might the prophets sing, oh, Jerusalem,	42:42
	that bring us good tidings, lift up	42:45
	your voice with strength, lift it up,	42:48
	be not afraid, say unto the cities	42:51
	of Judah, behold your God.	42:53
	But people everywhere are so human,	42:57
	and even the best among us	43:01
	can be so disappointing.	43:03
	Some of these exiles refused to return	43:05
	because they preferred to remain	43:08
	in the idolatry in the heathen.	43:10
	Others decided to come, but they	43:14
	were so slow and reluctant	43:16
	that they tried the prophet's patience.	43:19
	And then some others, though they came	43:22
	readily, brought their pagan gods with them.	43:25
	Is it not surprising then that Isaiah	43:30
	who had been at the peak of jubilation	43:35
	over the prospect of liberty for his people,	43:39
	should on account of the reaction of his own people	43:43
	be hurled momentarily into the pit	43:47
	of depression and rejection, and crying out,	43:51
	I thought I had been laboring in vain,	43:56
	spending my strength for nothing.	44:00
	This was the day he had lived for.	44:03
	This was the hour towards which his soul had reached,	44:07
	yet so few of his people shared his enthusiasm,	44:13
	and hence, for a moment, he felt that his life	44:17
	was pointless and useless.	44:20
	He could see no result for his labor.	44:23
	He found no rhyme nor reason	44:27
	in all his exacting toil.	44:30
	And this, men and women, is futility.	44:34
	Moreover, this attitude and feeling,	44:38
	which assailed the prophet Isaiah for a moment,	44:41
	26 centuries ago.	44:44
	holds an amazing number of our people	44:47
	in its grip today.	44:52
	Despite all the advantages and the benefits	44:55
	of science and culture and progress,	44:58
	we are a confused and bewildered	45:01
	and frustrated generation.	45:05
	Some years ago, Dr. Martin Buber,	45:08
	the great Jewish philosopher, was describing	45:11
	the temperament of the people of Europe,	45:13
	and he said: they are working hard,	45:16
	but they are working in the dark.	45:20
	Now, whatever excuse may have been given	45:23
	for that state of mind among the people of Europe,	45:25
	it stirs our curiosity	45:30
	when the disease of futility appears to be	45:33
	rampant today among American people	45:37
	who have everything they want.	45:41
	Everyday you'll meet people who seem	45:44
	to be going through the motions of life	45:46
	as if they were waiting for some sudden	45:49
	or eminent catastrophe.	45:51
	Walk the streets of any of our cities,	45:54
	and how you'll miss the uplifted face,	45:57
	the flashing eye, and the shoulders	46:00
	squared and braced with courage.	46:03
	Men and women seem to believe, as did	46:07
	old Sorrell in Warwick Deeping's novel	46:10
	when he said: man is fighting	46:13
	a lone fight against a vast indifference.	46:16
	And an Englishmen cried out recently,	46:21
	what is the point of trying to be Christian today	46:23
	when the devil seems to hold all the trump cards?	46:27
	Something has seemingly gone out of our lives.	46:31
	And into the vacuum has come the deadening	46:36
	mood of futility.	46:40
	One evening, Prime Minister David Lloyd George	46:44
	was called to the telephone	46:48
	from a political caucus in a smoke-filled room,	46:51
	and a doctor's voice at the other end of the line	46:55
	said, "sir, I regret to have to tell you,	46:58
	"your daughter is dead."	47:02
	There he was staggered as never before.	47:06
	No political manipulation could do any good	47:11
	in the face of this critical and devastating fact,	47:15
	and turning away from the telephone,	47:20
	he cried out in sheer futility,	47:23
	"why doesn't life work?"	47:26
	Now, this problem we are looking at this morning	47:31
	is not political or economic or national.	47:34
	Our problem basically is moral and spiritual.	47:39
	For, if people could believe greatly in something,	47:44
	if they could see some outline of a purpose	47:49
	that would give reason and reality to daily living,	47:54
	then for them, life would wear--	47:59

-	Image of victory.	0:03
	By now, you're asking me, well what's Isaiah	0:07
	got to do with all this?	0:10
	If he were the victim of futility amid the simplicities	0:13
	of his life, what can he say to all the complexities	0:17
	of this 20th century?	0:21
	Well, simply this.	0:25
	Although Isaiah was assailed momentarily	0:27
	by futility in its bitterest form.	0:30
	Yet, he met it head on and defeated it	0:34
	because he was equipped with certain inner fundamentals	0:39
	that came from the will and mind of the living God.	0:44
	And these were not nearly 10 little rules	0:49
	for confident living.	0:52
	But they were convictions that came from observing	0:54
	a way God acts with men and women	0:58
	who are obedient to his will.	1:02
	And St. Paul himself knew	1:05
	that through obedience to the living Christ,	1:08
	your labor and mind are not in vain in the Lord.	1:13
	And these spiritual truths by which God's	1:18
	great servants have lived are still vital	1:21
	and valid in this generation in which	1:26
	you and I find ourselves.	1:29
	Now let us take a look for a few moments this morning	1:32
	exactly at what Isaiah says in this 49th chapter	1:36
	and discover three great convictions	1:41
	which sustained him in his struggle against futility.	1:45
	And the first was this.	1:50
	Isaiah had the conviction that he had a place	1:52
	of significance and worth in human society.	1:56
	Note what he says in the first verse.	2:02
	From my birth God made mention of my name.	2:04
	Now is not this one of the lost notes	2:10
	in much of our thinking and living today?	2:13
	Constantly you and I are told to see and safeguard	2:16
	the worth of other individuals and rightly so.	2:20
	But the conditions of our age demand	2:26
	that you and I see also the worst of ourselves.	2:30
	The story is told about a group of working men and women	2:37
	who were passing through the security check	2:40
	at the gates at the entrance of a manufacturing plant	2:44
	in the city of Glasgow in Scotland.	2:48
	And one woman suddenly discovered that she had	2:51
	forgotten her ID card and she shouted back	2:53
	to her husband who was some distance down the line	2:57
	and said, hurry up Jock and bring me my non-entity card.	3:00
	Now too many people today are inclined	3:06
	to treat themselves as if they were non-entities.	3:09
	They forget that they are members of God's great family	3:14
	and that the quality of the whole depends	3:19
	upon the quality of every single unit in it.	3:23
	But if you believe that this universe of ours	3:27
	is merely an accident	3:31
	or that life is, as one student put it,	3:34
	a bad joke that isn't even funny,	3:38
	then it is folly to be concerned	3:40
	about yourself or about anybody else.	3:43
	However, if you believe	3:46
	that it was God who called you into being,	3:48
	you will see your life from a new perspective	3:53
	and you will feel	3:58
	that you have been endowed with a new purpose,	3:59
	captivated with a new meaning.	4:04
	And then you will want to make your life	4:06
	morally and spiritually great	4:09
	in order to count 100% in God's purpose and plan.	4:12
	Last spring in the newspapers we saw an item	4:20
	about the redecoration and refurbishing	4:23
	of old Ford's Theater in the city of Washington,	4:27
	our nation's capital.	4:31
	And our minds went back in history	4:34
	to that fateful night	4:37
	of April 14, 1865	4:40
	when John Wilkes Booth	4:44
	approached the unguarded box	4:47
	to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.	4:51
	Who was the president's body guard	4:54
	and where was he then anyway?	4:58
	His name was John F. Parker.	5:01
	His job body guards the President of the United States.	5:07
	Someone described him as a man who lived	5:12
	in a dim fog of mind and duty.	5:15
	Always he got along somehow, never could he be a somebody	5:18
	so he thought he'd enjoy himself as being a nobody.	5:23
	His orders that night were to be alert at every danger	5:28
	and to defend the president at every cost.	5:34
	But from where he was standing, he couldn't see the stage.	5:39
	So he forsook his post and grabbed a seat.	5:42
	And for over 100 years,	5:46
	this nation has worn the scar	5:50
	caused by one man's sense of futility.	5:54
	One man failed to see	5:59
	and to respect his task	6:03
	and to realize that at that moment	6:06
	he as an individual was indispensable.	6:10
	On the other hand,	6:16
	whenever you and I see our work in ourselves,	6:17
	claimed by a righteousness	6:22
	and justice not our own.	6:25
	The quality of human society is enriched	6:29
	and our contribution to the common good	6:32
	is made more real.	6:38
	From your birth, God made mention of your name.	6:40
	When you believe this, there is no room for futility	6:44
	and no one of us feels	6:50
	that his or her work is in vain.	6:52
	And then there was a second conviction.	6:57
	Isaiah believed that he was an instrument	7:00
	in the hands of God.	7:03
	Note what he said in the third verse	7:05
	when he reports God's word to his own life.	7:08
	"Thou art my servant in whom I will be glorified."	7:12
	While Isaiah was concerned about his task	7:18
	of counseling and encouraging his own people,	7:22
	he was aware that the truth of God was being	7:26
	expressed through him.	7:30
	For whenever men and women put themselves	7:33
	at God's disposal,	7:36
	he breaks into glory through them.	7:40
	And there is no greater inner enthusiasm	7:43
	that you and I can ever experience than when God	7:47
	breaks into glory in and through our human life.	7:51
	Erwin Edwin in his book, Candle in the Dark,	7:57
	described our status aptly in this way.	8:00
	In the 19 century he wrote, man was sad	8:04
	because he no longer believed in God.	8:07
	But in this 20th century man is sadder still	8:10
	because he no longer believes in man.	8:14
	And certainly you and I cannot restore	8:18
	the conviction	8:22
	that we are instruments in the hand of God	8:24
	until all these deficiencies	8:28
	in 19th and 20th century thinking are made up.	8:31
	The shorter cataclysm says God is a spirit.	8:36
	Infinite, eternal,	8:40
	and unchangeable in his being, wisdom,	8:42
	power, holiness, justice, and truth.	8:47
	And just as light	8:51
	requires a surface to reflect it,	8:53
	else it does not see,	8:58
	so also God's way and will	9:01
	are reflected in and through human character and witness.	9:05
	Therefore when you do what is wise	9:11
	rather than what is indiscreet,	9:13
	when you ally your power with what is holy	9:16
	rather than what is profane.	9:20
	When you commit your life to justice	9:23
	rather than to unfairness.	9:25
	When you seek truth rather than falsehood.	9:29
	Then you are on the side of God,	9:33
	doing his will	9:38
	and through you God is breaking into glory.	9:39
	But it's just here that you and I continue	9:45
	daily to fail him.	9:50
	One day on a playground in the city of Boston	9:52
	some boys were teasing another lad	9:56
	who was a Sunday school boy and whose shoes	9:59
	were broken out at the heels and at the toes.	10:03
	And one lad turned to him tauntingly and said,	10:08
	if God really loves you why doesn't he take care of you?	10:11
	Why doesn't he tell someone to buy you a pair of shoes?	10:16
	And the other lad with wisdom beyond his years	10:21
	responded, I guess he does tell somebody	10:23
	but they just ain't listening.	10:26
	But when people do listen to that call	10:30
	and claim from above and beyond themselves,	10:34
	they become instruments for the benefit of other people,	10:39
	for God can only work through men and women	10:45
	for men and women.	10:49
	As the late John A. McCay of Princeton Seminary put it,	10:52
	we become related to Christ singly,	10:55
	but we cannot live in Christ solitarily.	10:59
	But when you and I are committed to him	11:04
	our lives are directed ever outward	11:08
	to work his purpose for his people.	11:12
	And when you and I are so involved,	11:16
	the thrill of our enthusiasm outstrips	11:21
	the encroachments of futility.	11:25
	And then one final thought.	11:30
	Not only did Isaiah have the conviction	11:33
	that he had place of significance and worth	11:35
	in human society and therefore he was an instrument	11:39
	in the hands of God,	11:43
	he felt also that he could trust	11:45
	God's handling of tomorrow.	11:49
	Note what he says in the fourth verse:	11:52
	"Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord	11:55
	and my work with my God."	11:57
	In other words, he gave it all over to God.	12:01
	And he conquered his sense of futility.	12:07
	He took what Kierkegaard called the leap of faith	12:10
	and this is always the initial step to a life	12:14
	that is filled with meaning and direction and purpose.	12:18
	In which futility can never have any place.	12:23
	Oh, but you interrupt me this morning and you say,	12:30
	this is what all you preachers say.	12:32
	Simply have faith and all is going to be swell.	12:36
	But those who talk in this way are not quite sure	12:41
	within themselves of what faith really is.	12:44
	For them, faith is believing in what you know to be untrue.	12:48
	Now if faith be that,	12:54
	then no scientist,	12:57
	no inventor, no explorer	13:00
	would ever have budged an inch	13:04
	and the resources of this universe would have	13:08
	been left untapped, its laws untamed.	13:12
	And you and I would still be living in caves.	13:18
	But the men and women of faith whose lives	13:22
	have cheered and uplifted humanity	13:26
	have had one watch word,	13:29
	let go and let God.	13:32
	Or as Fred Beakner has put it, hold fast by letting go.	13:36
	And William Barkely of Glasgow put it this way,	13:41
	it is the man who is in a right relationship	13:44
	with God as a result of his faith, who really lives.	13:47
	And the enemy of this kind of life	13:55
	is our graceless, grasping	13:58
	inner selves which always want our own way,	14:02
	our own comforts, our own ins.	14:07
	And we continue to be miserable and futile	14:11
	with them and without them.	14:15
	Henry Drummond, the great Scottish scientist	14:19
	and Christian said, the end of the Christian life	14:22
	is not simply to do good or to get good.	14:25
	It is just doing what God wills, whether that be	14:30
	winning or losing,	14:35
	suffering or recovering,	14:37
	living or dying.	14:41
	At one time in Africa David Livingston felt that	14:45
	his whole work was hopeless	14:48
	and futile	14:53
	and in vain.	14:55
	But he fell back on Christ's promise,	14:57
	"low I am with you always.	15:00
	even unto the end of the age."	15:03
	And later Livingston wrote in his diary,	15:07
	these are the words of a man of the most sacred	15:10
	and strictest honor.	15:14
	I thought I had been laboring in vain,	15:19
	spending my strength for nothing.	15:24
	Your work is not in vain in the Lord.	15:29
	Men and women there is a point in living.	15:35
	How happy you will be when you find it.	15:43
	Amen.	15:53
	(traditional Catholic music)	16:02
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	18:41
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	18:45
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	18:50
	to reconcile and make new.	18:53
	Who works in us and others by the spirit.	18:56
	We trust God who calls us to be the church	19:00
	to celebrate life and its fullness to love	19:03
	and serve others to seek justice and resist evil.	19:08
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge	19:13
	and our hope in life, in death, in life beyond death.	19:17
	God is with us, we are not alone.	19:23
	Thanks be to God.	19:26
	The Lord be with you.	19:28
-	And also with you.	19:30
-	Let us pray.	19:32
	Oh God, eternal spirit so high above us	19:46
	that we cannot comprehend you and yet so deep	19:51
	within us that we cannot escape you.	19:55
	Make yourself real to us now.	19:58
	In a shaken world we seek stability.	20:02
	In a noisy world, we need inner peace.	20:06
	In a fearful world, we want courage.	20:10
	And in a world of rising and falling nations	20:13
	we crave a vision of your eternal kingdom	20:17
	whose sun never sets.	20:21
	Come and seek us out, every one, in the special	20:24
	circumstances and needs that each faces.	20:29
	It is young and old that we come, the glad hearted	20:33
	and bereaved, families together here	20:38
	and solitary individuals far from home.	20:42
	Some of us tempted to be proud of the world's prizes	20:47
	and some suffering because of failure.	20:52
	Some of us strong in body and others striving	20:56
	to keep the inward person renewed,	21:00
	while the outward body is perishing.	21:03
	Oh son of our help and strength, be to us	21:07
	like the sun indeed and shine this morning	21:11
	into every window of our souls.	21:15
	We pray for the peace of the world,	21:20
	for wisdom to seek peace and pursue it.	21:23
	For faith and character to use aright.	21:28
	The powers we have in our very unworthy hands, we pray.	21:31
	With thankful and yet with burdened hearts, oh God,	21:38
	we pray for your church.	21:42
	Seek afresh to help us understand her gospel	21:45
	and make real the very ends of the earth	21:50
	the salvation that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.	21:53
	Now may your spirit touch us all with some	21:58
	healing wisdom and strength.	22:02
	Kindle our faith.	22:05
	Make sensitive our consciouses.	22:07
	Dedicate our strength.	22:10
	Fortify us in our troubles.	22:12
	And send you out strong in the Lord	22:15
	and in the power of the Lord, for it is in the name	22:19
	of Jesus the Christ we pray,	22:23
	who taught us to pray saying our father who art in heaven	22:26
	hallowed be thy name.	22:31
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	22:33
	as it is in heaven.	22:37
	Give us this day our daily bread	22:39
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	22:42
	who trespass against us.	22:45
	And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,	22:47
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	22:52
	and the glory forever, amen.	22:55
	(soft music)	23:01
	(traditional Catholic music)	24:28
	All that we have, we have of you, oh God our creator.	29:46
	Accept these gifts which we now bring before you	29:51
	and help us to make the whole of life in offering.	29:54
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	29:59
	(traditional Catholic music)	30:05
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.	33:20
	The love of God.	33:23
	And the fellowship of the holy spirit	33:25
	be with you, among you, and surround you now and always.	33:27
	(traditional Catholic music)	33:40
	(people chattering)	39:08

Item Info

Title:

Donald Macleod - "There Is a Point in Living" (November 13, 1983)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 36:57. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 15:53.
His message seeks to tackle what in his view is one of the most problematic attitudes of his generation: futility. His generation is a hopeless one, one that repeats “what is the use?” and he sees this same sentiment in the passage in Isaiah. Isaiah tackles futility in three ways: 1) having the conviction that he had a place of significance and worth in human society. 2) Believing that he was an instrument in the hands of God 3) Trusting God’s handling of the future. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Although Isaiah was assailed momentarily by futility in its bitterest form. Yet, he met it head on and defeated it because he was equipped with certain inner fundamentals that came from the will and mind of the living God.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r49w09d2w

Date:

November 13, 1983

Speaker:

Macleod, Donald

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0178
ref7879_pzv
uachapelsermaud
duke:320980
dcrau001169
ark:/87924/r49w09d2w
f3c5af64-eeb6-446c-b3c6-da61428da664

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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English

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United States
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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Donald Macleod - "There Is a Point in Living" (November 13, 1983)

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